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Baghdad to "review" relations with Turkey

07 August 2012 20:41 (Last updated 07 August 2012 20:48)

Baghdad government has claimed that the visit was "out of its knowledge".

BAGHDAD

An Iraqi government spokesperson has said the Iraqi Cabinet had decided to "review" relations with Turkey after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid a visit in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk last week.In a written statement on Tuesday Ali Al-Dabbagh said the cabinet also authorized establishment of a panel to investigate "the effects of the visit" with the participation of ministers of foreign affairs, interior, transportation, and head of the intelligence service. Davutoglu was the first Turkish FM ever to visit Kirkuk in 75 years. Baghdad government has claimed that the visit was "out of its knowledge" but Kirkuk governor, Najm al-Din Omar Karim, has said a visa application had been made to the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara and that the Iraqi Foreign Ministry had given "a flight clearance."President of the Al-Iraqiya Coalition's parliamentary bloc Salman Jumaili has saidDavutoglu visited Kirkuk within the knowledge of the the Baghdad government.